Massive Fire Destroys Home: Fundraiser
Lethbridge, AB - On Tuesday August 18, 2020, REALTOR® Brent Frame was home with his four children when a fire started in the garage. As he was putting his daughter down for a nap, Brent heard a noise, checked the security camera and saw a man kicking their front door. The stranger ran to the backyard and Brent rushed to the deck prepared for a confrontation. That was when the man, who turned out to be a neighbour from down the street, yelled out “Fire!”
Brent immediately gathered up his children and the dog and ran from the house. It burned to the ground in 30 minutes despite the efforts of 50 firefighters from multiple crews.
Brent is eternally grateful to the neighbour who likely saved their lives. The fire was so massive and fast-moving due to the heat and high winds that the house next door was destroyed, and a third home was damaged. Fortunately, no one was injured and even the neighbour’s dog was safe since the owner had brought it to work.
The fire department has determined the likely cause of the fire. “Forensics says it was a lithium battery in a drill,” says Brent. “They said it was a freak thing. It was 36˚C and we hardly ever have that kind of heat. Heat and humidity in the garage caused the battery to swell and it exploded.”
For now, Brent, his wife Emily and their four children are staying in a hotel. The parents are doing all they can to help their young children adjust. Brent notes they were lucky to find a rental in their neighbourhood so that the kids can be near their friends and go to the same school.
They plan to rebuild on the site, but they are waiting to hear about whether the house foundation can be salvaged, or if they need to rebuild from the ground up. “It will take a minimum of a year to build a home. Insurance will get us a rental for a year.”
The family had only the clothes on their backs with everything else lost to the flames, so a relative set up a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/emily-salmon-amp-brent-frame. “Insurance covers approximately 70% of the cost but only if you can name every single thing in your house and prove that you had it. When we rebuild, we are going to take pictures of absolutely everything.”
Sutton is a 100% Canadian-owned and operated company with more than 7,000 REALTORS® in over 200 offices nationwide. To find out more about Sutton, visit www.sutton.com. To learn more about Sutton Spirit, visit www.suttonspirit.com.
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Sutton Group Realty Services Ltd. Contact:
Brooke Matthews
604-691-1689
Sutton Group - Lethbridge Contact:
Brent Frame
403-593-9747